Shadow Portfolio — 12 May 2026

Michael McCormack's parliamentary activity on 12 May ran two parallel attack lines against the Labor budget. Across a budget-night procedural contribution and a matter of public importance debate, he targeted the absence of new infrastructure spending, the cancellation of the full Inland Rail route, the defunding of regional roads programs, and broken housing promises — framing the budget as a wholesale abandonment of regional Australia.

In a separate bill debate, McCormack spoke for the shadow assistant treasurer to give bipartisan backing to the Treasury Laws Amendment (The Survivors Law) Bill 2026, which creates a court-supervised mechanism for survivors of child sexual abuse to access perpetrators' superannuation and ensures compensation debts survive bankruptcy. The regional infrastructure critique dominated his day's output; the Survivors Law contribution was a cooperative aside rather than an attack line.